Instone Air Line was an early

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

airline from

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off th ...

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

. Along with other private airlines of the time, it was absorbed into

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was an early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...

. This airline is not to be confused with the Instone Air Line of Stansted, which operated from 1981 to about 1996 with

Bristol Freighter The Bristol Type 170 Freighter is a British twin-engine aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as both a freighter and airliner. Its best known use was as an air ferry to carry cars and their passengers over relatively s ...

and

Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, Douglas reworked it after the war to compete ...

History

S. Instone & Company Limited, a shipping company set up by Sir Samuel Instone, had operated a private air service from

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

via London's

Hounslow Heath Aerodrome Hounslow Heath Aerodrome was a grass airfield, operational 1914–1920. It was in the London borough of Hounslow, and hosted the British Empire's first scheduled daily international commercial flights, in 1919. The site today includes the main ...

to Le Bourget aerodrome, near Paris, since 1919. From April 1920 it ran the service between London and Paris as a public service using the name Instone Air Line. In 1920 it was the first airline to transport a racehorse and on 1 January 1922 the company introduced uniforms to its pilots and staff; possibly the first airline to do so. It started a London to Cologne ( Butzweilerhof) service in May 1922. It stopped operating the London-Paris route in October 1922 due to competition. In 1923, a government committee recommended that the main British airlines should merge, to establish one, financially strong, airline, and to enable it to undertake the necessary expansions. Following this recommendation,

was created on 1 April

, absorbing the assets and routes of

Handley Page Transport Handley Page Transport Ltd was an airline company founded in 1919, soon after the end of the First World War, by Frederick Handley Page. The company's first planes were Handley Page Type O/400 bombers modified for passenger use. They flew a ...

, Instone Air Line,

Daimler Airway Daimler Airway was an airline subsidiary of the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA)'s Daimler Company The Daimler Company Limited ( ), before 1910 known as the Daimler Motor Company Limited, was an independent British motor vehicle ma ...

and British Marine Air Navigation Co Ltd. There is a history of the airline: ''Early Birds – Air Transport Memories 1919–1924'' by Alfred Instone (published by Western Mail & Echo, Cardiff, 1938) containing a number of photographs.

Accidents and incidents

*In February 1923, an aircraft belonging to Instone was damaged in an accident at Saint-Inglevert,

Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. *On 13 August 1923, de Havilland DH.34 G-EBBW landed at Marden Airfield,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

due to a broken oil pipe. The aircraft was repaired and returned to Croydon.

Fleet

Airco DH.4 The Airco DH.4 is a British two-seat biplane day bomber of the First World War. It was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland (hence "DH") for Airco, and was the first British two-seat light day-bomber capable of defending itself. It was desig ...

* BAT F.K.26 * Bristol Type 47 Tourer * Bristol Type 62 * de Havilland DH.18 * de Havilland DH.34 * Vickers Vimy Commercial * Vickers Vulcan * Westland Limousine

References

{{Airlines of the United Kingdom Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom Airlines established in 1920

History

Accidents and incidents

Fleet

See also

References